While many of the products manufactured in Kirksville go beyond the state and the nation to be distributed across the globe, one local manufacturer is making parts that go out of this world.

When NASA landed the Mars rover Curiosity earlier this summer, it depended on some crucial WireCo products, namely some wire ropes in its parachute assembly.

And while Curiosity’s mission was not a matter of life or death, many other uses of WireCo products can mean the difference between safety and tragedy.

The local plant manufactures primarily wire products like those used in suspension bridges or lifting ropes or hydraulic lifts.

“With a lot of these products, we’re talking about lives and potential lawsuits,” said Mark Leake, WireCo plant manager.

The Kirksville facility was opened in 1994 and has grown in size, products and employment since. Currently, WireCo employs 53 full-time employees and has seen its sales double every year since 2005.

The plant’s high-quality industrial specifications, highlighted by its AS9100 certification, allow it to manufacture assemblies and products with tolerances within hundredths of a hair width for clients like the military and other industry.

Its projects can include crucial connecting assemblies for construction cranes or wire ropes for pedestrian bridges or anchor points for the ropes used to stop jets upon landing on aircraft carriers.